Southern California -- this just in

O.C. teachers who had group sex with student get probation

A married couple -- both Orange County teachers -- were sentenced to probation Thursday for having group sex with a 17-year-old student who prosecutors said the teachers plied with alcohol.

Gay Davidson-Shepard, 60, and Daniel Alma Shepard, 63, pleaded guilty in August to various felony counts related to having a sexual relationship with a minor.

Davidson-Shepard was sentenced to three years formal probation with a four-year-jail sentence stayed, and her husband was sentenced to three years formal probation with a two-year jail sentence stayed, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office.

Both were ordered to complete counseling and 60 days of community service, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Davidson-Shepard met the student when he was attending Westminster High School. The couple then "groomed" the young man by inviting him over to their Huntington Beach home to drink alcohol, eat, play board games and watch movies.

One day, prosecutors said, the couple got into a hot tub naked and encouraged the boy to join them, and they engaged in sexual acts, according to prosecutors.

The unlawful sexual relationship continued until the youth turned 18, at which point the relationship was no longer illegal, prosecutors said.

The young man later told his mother of the relationship, and she in turn contacted Westminster police. After an investigation, the couple was arrested April 20, 2011.

On Nov. 28, 2011, while they were out of custody on bail and barred from contacting the student, Davidson-Shepard violated a protective order by calling and texting him numerous times, prosecutors said.

At the time of the crime, Davidson-Shepard was a teacher at Mesa View Middle School in Huntington Beach and Shepard was a teacher at Westminster High School.